DALLAS — The first TV ad of the U.S. Senate campaign in Texas aired this week on WFAA and on other stations around the state.

The commercial aims to re-introduce some voters to incumbent Republican John Cornyn.

"No one is happy with the way things are bein' done in Washington... not Republicans, not Democrats, not me," Cornyn is heard saying in a voice-over as the casually-dressed senator is portrayed in black-and-white surveying the Palo Duro Canyon.

The Cornyn ad acknowledges that polls show about 70 percent of Americans disapprove of the job Congress is doing.

"There's too much petty squabblin' while major problems aren't gettin' fixed," Cornyn says, dropping his "g's" consistently through the spot.

The desolate Panhandle location for this commercial is curious, since the major problems to which Cornyn refers — the economy, energy costs and the housing and finance crises — are in towns and cities where people live.

"This nonsense should stop," Cornyn concludes in the ad.

But his political spot isn't about introducing solutions — it's about re-introducing Cornyn.

Since May, surveys of Texas voters show the senator's support running about 50 percent or less. Pollster Rasmussen Reports says an incumbent with support below 50 percent is generally viewed as vulnerable.

The UT-Austin poll from July found 25 percent of voters were undecided in Cornyn's race with Democrat Rick Noriega.

To familarize voters, Cornyn's ad states he holds "a lifetime of conservative values," which is certainly true, since his rating on Senate votes by the American Conservative Union is 95 percent.

"We need change, all right — the right kind of change," Cornyn says in the ad.

While his commercial casts Cornyn as a reformer, it lacks specifics about what he wants to change — and how.

Texas voters are waiting to hear in future Cornyn commercials or campaign statements what change he wants, since two polls show about 70 percent of Texas voters believe the country is on the wrong track.

E-mail bwatson@wfaa.com